In december 2010 I was working too hard. I was working 60 hours a week, doing an extra barjob for 20 hours a week and renovate a house in the little amount of free time i had. There was no time for me, there was no time for my girlfriend and I got lost in a habbit of working hard and going to a bar to have a drink.

Though this all seems hard, the hardest part was that i kept dreaming of mountains and freedom and all i did was working harder to get the money to go out but though I had the money, due to working too hard I never had the opportunity to go out...

Suddenly everything changed. On the 17th of december I became unemployed and finally I had the chance to make my dreams come true!

Snowdonia in december, the beginning

A few days later I finally had the opportunity to get out like I dreamt for of the biggest amount of time. I decided I was going to Wales. The snowdon horseshoe was one of the climbs that was high on my "ticklist" and made me dream away for the last few months. I had to get myself out of the routine of work, renovate and girlfriend. Finally I had the time to make my mountaindreams come true ...

After driving through a winterlandscape on the I arrived in Llanberis and immediatelly I drove up to the Pen-Y-Pass Youth hostel to get my gear out in the room and went for a little hike to the first lake on the Miners Track of Snowdon...

There was a 20cm layer of snow on the track and suddenly I realised, THIS is what I have been dreaming about for months ... Mountains, snow, natura, EVERYTHING! That hour on the Miners Track made me realise that I was ruining my life but there was more! I was going to climb this thing, I was going to get the Snowdon Horseshoe of that dreamclimb ticklist I made so many times in my head...

After a great night in the youthhostel I decided to make a tour over the PYG track and the Minerstrack to see what my goal was, what the snowconditions were and just enjoy being out ...

I headed out with my crampons and ice axe in my backpack, a downjacket and down pants and some food and water. Never had I been enjoying my freedom and being out so much in my life as I did now ... This "mountain thing" is what i was living for, working for and dreaming of.

After passing the second lake on the Miners Track I started to enjoy it more and more ... I felt ALIVE! After the last months I never felt what I felt now. This was what I was made for, this made me feel alive like nothing else could make me feel alive!!!

I putted on my crampons 100 meter highers, took my ice axe out and blazed to the summit. There I took my down jacket and trousers out and just sat while having a smoked for the next two hours and just dreamt of the next climb, the next route and the next challenge I would set to myself but after two hours scenery changed and the weather got too cloudy to enjoy it fully so I was heading back down over the PYG track towards the Pen-Y-Pass Youthhostel to find a desolated place with two other people and some staff to have a christmas dinner with...

Defeat and retreat

The next day it was finally time for the reason I came here for. The Snowdon horseshoe! The route is start taking the PYG track, crossing over to Crib Coch, by far the most beautifull mountain of the snowdon range, over Carnedd Ugain, summitting Snowdon and finishing of after scrambling towards Y Lliwedd ...

This seemed not enough so I decided to add the barely climbed "horns" to my trip. Instead of going over the well traveled PYG track I would take the horns to add an extra challenge...

The weather seemed cloudy when I left the youth hostel but not too much wind. Though the view was bad, the wind was down and the route would be challenging enough for me in winter so I headed out towards the horns.

One the first minor summit of the horns the wind started picking up. The view was bad, the wind was speedy and it started snowing again. Though this wouldn't be a problem in the first part, it might be one later on towards Crib Coch.

On the second one it was getting worse. I was often being lifted of my feet while holding on to the fence which is going over every 'horn' so I took out my harness and started to clip myself more and more in to the fence. I started to feel unsafe because the wind kept picking up ... One more horn to go and I would be out of the wind for a while on the pass where the PYG track would cross the pass between Crib Coch and the horns.

On the last horn it got bad. While having my two ice axes out I was laying on my belly, axes deep in the snow, crampons deep in the snow and just hoping not to be blown off. I was getting desperate but every now and than the wind slowed down for a few seconds so i could gain another few meters ...

20 minutes later I was on the pass where the PYG track crosses and checked my heartrate monitor. 1h45 without getting my heartrate under 175. I obviously pushed myself badly and had to get down to the warmth of the hostel and the nice Stella they serve there ..

Going over the PYG track was easy, getting into the hostel was harder ... Since it was the 25th of december they closed the front door and wouldn't open till five ... Time for food and a shower in Pete's Eat (one of the most famous climber cafe's in the world) it was ...

The Snowdon horseshoe won't run away, it was just me running away to a warm and safe place. Though it seemed like a good decision it started raining the next day and all the snow turned into a messy thing in which it was no fun walking around in ...

Time to go back to Belgium, time to continue the renovations of the house I bought with my girlfriend...

Back to renovations ...

When arriving back I got confronted by the house I was renovating with my girlfriend and the time I finally had to make this project ending in a good place. A family place a place for the two of us...

After getting badly pissed on newyears eve I started the working with my dad and some of my family and soon I saw the place evolve in the place me and my girlfriend wanted it to be. The problem was that I couldn't sleep anymore, the only thing I was thinking about was the house...

The mountaindreams I had got burried again under a shitload of work I had to do and the only mountains I climbed were mountains I climbed in my dreams. So I decided when this was all over I would finally climbed the mountain of my dreams (Aconcagua, Polish Direct) and after I climbed it me and my girlfriend would start with kids ...

Dreams change, lifes changes and the things you want change ... Me and my girlfriend broke up the end of february.

I had nothing anymore of the things I had a few months ago. No job, no girlfriend, no dreams together with the girlfriend. The onbly thing I had was the passion to go out, to get out and due to the breakout also the money to get out ...

Revange!!!

The beginning of march came and there was a thing to settle in the north of Wales, there was no way I would let that Horseshoe thing unfinished ...

I took the ferry again to North Wales and the second day I was in Llanberis I climbed the whole of the horseshoe ...

Since I was planning on staying here for three weeks I planned more fun stuff to do. The north ridge of Tryfann and the Glyders were soon covered and I met Dan (Nanuls on Summitpost) to get myself up the first tradclimbs I had ever done ... One of the most scary things I had done ...

Three weeks passed without thinking about anything I had left behind in Belgium but soon it became time to get back to Belgium ...

In the first week of march I slept in bunkhouses all over Llanberis, youthhostels, Ben's bunkhouse, Pete's Eat and the now closed Y Fricssan but I needed to safe money, I needed to get out more. This was the opportunity and the probably the only moment I had in my life to do this ... So I started sleeping in my car, I needed to safe some money to keep enjoying the freedom I discovered!

More to do, may 2011

In march I got myself addicted to the hills of North Wales but even more I got myself addicted to trailrunning. Running in trailrunners, challenging yourself for two hours, pushing yourself to the capabilities you had and the limits of your body. It made me feel alive! More alive than I ever was, more alive than I ever felt!

I still liver in my car, I had no privacy, I had no luxeries but in the end the most important thing was that I was happy and GOD DAMN I was happy!

Every day I did a mountain but most of the time I was running up and down the Llanberis track to beat my time ... The fastest I reached in may was 2.01 but I knew I could be faster, I knew that I could beat it and I felt like my body could ...

After three weeks it was time again to say goodbye from Wales. I came to the UK with a goal to travel around this time. One week Wales, one week in the Lake District and one week in Scotland. After spending one night and one day I ran back to Wales. I lost my heart to the people living there, the lifestyle and the scenery ... I fell in love badly ... Three weeks weren't enough but still,it was time to go back to Belgium ...

Planning

Planning is simple, when you don't have a goal, when you don't have a dream, when you have nothing in your mind ... The only thing I wanted to do was climbing so I made a deal with myself. I would go out for three months, three months of climbing, three months of meeting people, three months of beautifull mountains but the most important thing ... Three months of ultimate hapiness!!!

Planning is really simple when you have no fixed goals so I made a deal with myself. I would go for three months without getting back to Belgium, three months to enjoy life and happyness!

Three months the first time ...

I made my decission, I was turning my back towards Belgium and I won't be back ... Not for the first three months at least. I was going to enjoy the mountains instead of working ...

To start with I was setting of towards the south of Germany. I planned on doing the Hintelanger Klettersteig, the Zugspitz Hollenthal and the Jubilaumsgrat. After that I would probably go in the direction of the Grossglockner and do the Stuedlgrat and see what happened after that, the alps are a huge range with an immense amount of mountains, a huge amount of fun and an even bigger amount of stuff to climb ... For those coming from another planet and reading this, the Alps are paradise!

I drove of on the 27th of june towards Oberstdorf in the south of Germany and parked myself at the parkinglot and soon I was sleeping. A trip of 550 miles is a hard one when doing it alone but I didn't knew what was coming. The next day there was a great klettersteig planned which I tried two years ago in winter. Unfinished business needs to become finished!

The next morning I took the first cable car up tothe Nebelhorn summit and found myself scrambling over boulders and clipping myself in to the iron cable running from summit to summit. Oh what is life great ...

After summiting the first three summits i was traversing over to the Grosse Daume to finish up my day. At the bottom of the pass somehow a rock came falling down. I had been struggling with my knees for the past two years and it hit my knee but no way I was going to give up so close to the summit so I continued with not so much trouble and made it back in time to the second to last cable car to the valley.

When walking down from the summit I had been thinking a lot. Since I was setting off for three months I needed to rest for a few days because my knee was hit. I couldn't take the risk to have a bad knee for the rest of the three months so I set off back again to Belgium to give myself the rest I needed. A few days in Belgium would give me the rest I needed...

What's next

So I was back in Belgium. Thinking about what was next. I had some climbs on my ticklist in Austria but at the same time I started to miss Llanberis. The great town but also the people living there.

People did look strange when I turned up in Belgium after doing 1100 miles, 10 hours in the mountain and all that within 36 hours ... I was on a mission. A mission to find peace and happyness in my life!

Three months the second time!

So I was going back to North Wales. I still had the 14 peaks to finish and wanted to continue with my trailrunning for a while.

After a few days we would see where we would end up, see how life evolved. In the end I had three months on my own pursuit to happyness...

When arriving in Llanberis it felt like coming home after a long trip. I felt welcomed by loads of people, walking around on the high street loads of people asked me where i had been and how long I was going to be back for.

One of the most important things in Llanberis is Pete's Eat (at least for me but probably for every hiker/climber around here ...) so I arrived and checked the board to see if someone was looking for partners and there was a note. A guiding agency was looking for a French speaking hiking guide for scotland. Since I had never been there it seemed like an awesome idea so immediately I send the guy who put up a note an email. The job would start the 16th of july so I still had two weeks.

In these two weeks I ran my ass off. Running up and down Snowdon, Crib Coch, the glyders or any other route in the Llanberis valley. All this running was still with the goal of doing the 14 peaks sooner or later in the next weeks and hoped to do it when I came back from scotland.

So the 14th of july I took off to Edinburgh where the agency was working from. Arriving there on a party of couch surfers from all over the world was fun. LOADS of fun!!! I loved it, I adored it!

Drinking whisky till 6am, even dancing! With people I had never seen or probably would never see after that night so I just ignored my shame and placed my best moves in the middle of the living room!

The next day I went for a walk in Edinburgh and just chilled in the park and watched people walking by ... I had to rest properly before being able to be guiding non-stop for two weeks. In the evening I went to the climbing wall in Edinburgh to fresh up my shoulder muscles because I wanted to get back in shape and do more climbing in august. I hadn't done enough and had concentrated myself too much on the running and not on the guiding ...

Guiding" the french people"

After a great party in Edinburgh I had to see the city with a hangover. A huge one, a massive one, one where you think “I will never ever drink again”, even really mean it but 12 hours later grabbing a bottle of whisky and say “fuck not drinking!”

The city itself is made to walk around with a hangover, but hey, i was in Scotland, what had I expected? Loads of small roads and nice little parks all over the city just to hang out and do nothing except for watching people. Edinburgh was a great city, one where I wouldn’t mind really living …

In the evening I went climbing in the climbing wall of Edinburgh. The wall was use! The most magnificent climbing wall I have ever seen in my life!!! The climbing grades were even nicer! Normally I climb 5c and on a really good day I will be able to do a 6a. Here I suddenly was climbing 7a’s and 7b’s. I loved the grading!

The day after we went for Glasgow to pick up the clients. Since all of them spoke French it would be hard. As a native dutch speaker I had been speaking English for the last months and suddenly had to switch to French. But I knew that soon it would go as fluent as it ever was. Just had to give myself enough time to concentrate on the language.

The clients were in Scotland to hike in the highlands and go hiking on the Isle of Skye. In both places I had never been so for me this would also be a nice “holiday”.

The first day we were going to climb Ben Lomond. For all of the clients their first “Munro”. It involved a hike on a really nice trail with loads of great views over Ben Lomond. The biggest sweet water lake in the whole of the UK.

Ben Lomond was magnificent. The clients were great and their physical conditions were better than expected though all of them were between 35 and 55. We were up and down in less than 5 hours. What a view! If this was going to be the nature, the views and the feeling I was going to have this all would be more or less a holiday, not a job!

The next day we continued our drive towards Pitlochry. A small “village” near Ben Vrackie. The drive itself was magnificent. Going from one stunning valley to the other one. Even this drive would have made worth the trip to me. To the clients it probably wouldn’t because they all were asleep in the back of the van.

Ben Vrackie was for me the most beautiful hike I would do in Scotland. Stunning scenery and it kept changing. Starting a hike at the valley and going from forest to grassland to nice bouldery rock scrambles. The scenery was faster changing than Barbies clothes would be changed. I enjoyed being out again more than I ever did and felt more free than I ever did. Though I was “working”.

The day after Ben Vrackie was some kind of resting day and we visited a castle and a whisky distillery (some way of resting with 5 female clients passing all the whisky to their male guide wasn’t really “resting” but who was I to complain to drink an overload of whisky?).

The next morning we were packed. Today was transfer day toward Fort William. The base of Ben Nevis, the base of Scottish mountaineering, the Llanberis, Yosemite valley or Chamonix of Scotland. On the way there we would climb Shiehallion. The third munro in four days and it won’t be the last in the next weeks …

Shiehallion is history wise a really important mountain. The mass of the earth has been calculated here. The scientist who was calculating it had an assistant. For us mountaineers he is the real hero! He is the one who invented the lines of heights which we can find on our topo maps nowadays all over the world.

This was also the first time I had to show my navigation skills. The previous days we had glorious weather but today it was foggy from the base of the mountain till the summit. When we arrived their the weather cleared, the clouds disappeared and soon we were able to see Ben Vrackie and Ben Lomond, the mountains we climbed previously.

Again I was stunned by the scenery but it all started to seem the same. While Snowdonia changes every valley the whole of Scotland seemed the same …

So soon we were down and off to Fort William. Here we would go to the Glen Nevis valley, climb Ben Nevis over the Pony Track and another resting day. A real one this time. After arriving in Fort William I was talking to the clients and they wanted more hikes and didn’t need a resting day. Since I had never been to Scotland before this seemed like music in my ears. So I made a deal with them. Glen Nevis, Ben Nevis and Glencoe. A stunning valley near Fort William which I wanted to visit. A easy hike up there of three hours would give not only them but also myself an idea of the valley. The resting day was reduced to half a day of resting and I still had half a day to go bouldering or climbing in the nearest climbing wall to Fort William. I needed to keep training since I wanted to do more rock climbing when back in Llanberis so half a day would have to do. We were only once in Scotland!

The first day we were going up the Ben. Weather was clear, no winds and loads of sunshine. It soon was obvious that this would become my THIRD sunburn in less than a week in Scotland. Ben Nevis was packed. Lines and lines of tourists heading their way up to the highpoint of the UK. This mountain wasn’t about nature, this mountain and this route was just climbed because people wanted to reach the highpoint. I’ve been on Half Dome on the cable route in California but that’s nothing. You can still feel “alone” somehow but here you just felt one of the many slogging up the mountain… On the summit of Ben Nevis it wasn’t any better. At least 200 people at the same time near the summit swaying Scottish flags, yelling to each other, … This wasn’t nature, this had become a city, a place where a proper bar would be cheered for instead of disgusted. After taking the familiar summitpics we were soon heading down again. And a few hours later we were back in the hotel for a shower and a dinner.

The next day we were going to have a hike through the Glencoe valley. One of the most beautifull valleys I have ever seen. A green valley with rock sticking out on all sides and all the side valleys. The rock wasn’t like other rock faces. It seemed really old and as crumble as an apple crumble. Nothing to climb here but so much to take in, such a view! Little birds and insect all over the place, tiny little flowers, … Compared to this Ben Nevis wasn’t even nature!

That evening I went to the climbing wall for some more work out but since it was Sunday it would soon close, I had only an hour and a half left but they used auto-belaying devices on some routes. I seemed to become better, being able to push my grade, make “Egyptians” like I never did before. It seemed like I really was getting better!

The next morning was our last morning in the highlands of scotland and we would make a short walk through the Glen Nevis valley. A nice little walk with some boulder hopping took us soon into the valley where we were stunned by a big waterfall and some smaller ones. This valley was in the back of Ben Nevis and this part of Ben Nevis seemed so much more beautifull than the “tourist track” we did two days before.

Nice rock faces which seemed really enjoyable to climb and waterfalls which would freeze in winter … Due to a special climate here it would be possible to do an ice climb one day totally packed up in down and mittens and the next day climb a rock face in a shirt … In the afternoon we would transfer towards the “Isle of Skye”.

Not going to type a lot about it. Pictures say more than words …

I didn’t like it due to small hikes (3 hours a day) and transfers every day of more than two hours … Spending more time in a car than in my trailrunners wasn’t my idea of a holiday …

This was work again …

Back to Llanberis

My mind had been set on going back to Llanberis after one week on the Isle of Skye, I wanted to get better in rockclimbing and being here wouldn’t make me better. I had met so many people in Llanberis yet and it would be way easier to find partners in Llanberis…

As soon as I dropped of the clients in Glasgow again I set of in my own car towards Llanberis. Arriving here I was really set on finding a partner and seeing a note from Steve on the big wall in Pete’s Eat I immideately contacted him.

The next day I found myself climbing in the Bus Stop Quarry doing some 5c and 6a stuff. 6a seemed easier than it was a couple of months ago. I was really getting better and it felt nice to feel the difference in my climbing skills… Steve would become my climbing partner for the next weeks. He was bumming out in Llanberis for a few weeks to get his climbing better. His goal was to climb an HVS (brittish grade) and mine was to climb 6b. So soon we found ourself climbing all over the Llanberis valley and drinking beers on a pretty daily base in the pub. I was on vacation! The weather was nice and the more I was climbing the better I started to feel myself…

After one week we became pretty convinced that our goals were too low. He climbed his HVS due to badly being pushed by me after being scared badly in 1/4th of the route and I climbed a 6b+.

When my mind wandered off I spotted this 6c (Wizz Bang) a route where I had many people seeing fallen off and they fell really great (drop from 8m fall till 50 cm of the ground) on the crux move. I became obsessed with this climb …

Wizz Bang bloody Wizz Bang

Guidebook says:

Wizz Bang: F6c 10 meters: A popular yet very contrived line which gives some interesting moves if taken direct. Unfortunaly it is far easier and more natural to stray slightly to the left (FA P Smith, P Doyle 28.01.94)

Wizz Bang was a climb situated in the Bus Stop Quarry which was by far my favorite place to climb (read no approach, easy to park, easy to get to) and after spending some time on the classical climbs there.

One of them, Equinox VS 4c, was my first tradlead ever. 20 minutes later I found myself roping up for a harder one, Solstice HVS 5b, and an hour later I was roping up for an even harder one, Fool's Gold E1 5c, which is equivalent to the F6b goal i had in the beginning of the summer but in trad instead of sport!

Fool's Gold was indeed a one move wonder but what a move it was! Easy to protect with bomber gear and very beautifull crack climbing after that.

After a couple of weeks i had done all climbs in the Bus Stop Quarry I wanted to do but was still looking for the move that would open up Wizz Bang. By now I had fallen more than 50 times on that move and I couldn't crack the problem. I just kept falling off (like I said: 25 feet to 2 feet above the ground).

I needed to focus more and needed to climb more in other places... Get my mind off Wizz Bang and move on ...

Gogarth

Another part of the quarry was named Australia. Great climbing and an awesome scenery (part of Clash Of the Titans has been filmed here).

Due to having found more partners I was able to tick of routes on a high speed and was becoming more or less solid on F6b so my goal was reached but I wanted more!

After having finished most of the routes in Australia (impossible to finish them all in one lifetime) I was asked to join for Gogarth.

Gogarth is considered one of the scariest places to climb in North Wales and I never understood what all the fuzz was about. What can be scary about a sea cliff of 150 ft high? Well ... I was soon going to find out! Gogarth scared the shit out of me!

Watching down to another belay after P1

Selfportret of me watching over the see on P1 of the second climb

Gogorth is a pretty rough cliff on Anglesey and is known for the rough nature of rock, the difficult route finding and the possibility of getting lost on a route.

Dan knew I had never been here so we started off with a HVS climb with a small overhang on P1 and a VS climb through dirty stuff on P2.

Dan ain't the biggest gear placer. He places one piece every 15 - 20 feet but every piece he places is completely bomber. Climbing with him is like heaven as a second due to not having to take of taking out a shitload of gear. Due to this the first pitch was finished really fast (120 feet) and the second (90 feet) was almost done in a simulclimbing way with two pieces of gear. Climbing like this was heaven!

When we came up to the top of the cliff we clipped in to the abseil rope again and soon found ourself back at the bottom of the cliff.

Watching over the coast of Gogarth

The next climb would be a bit harder E1 5c climb but I knew this was possible.

First pitch Dan blasted up again and soon i found myself seconding this pitch to sit myself down at a huge belayletch with 4 other people chatting around and having fun.

Soon the conversation started about Gogarth screwing up things in general. Since we still had to climb the second pitch it wasn't appreciated that one guy mentioned a big fall with a broken leg on the next pitch we would do... But whatever. Sun was shining, it was hot and there was a little breeze to cool things off. I was ready and capable to do this thing ...

The second pitch was something completely different. It started with a 7-8 meter long traverse to go up over crap rock to an even more crap belaypoint. Dan soon found himself on top of the cliff yelling towards me "I wouldn't fall if i were you because the belay is crap and I don't dare to attach myself to it". Off course this was a great supportive move of him and I started to watch the route in a more proper way.

7-8 meters of traverse with not even one piece of gear towards a crappy placed nut on the limit of my climbing. A crap belay which wouldnt hold a fall, certainly not a 7-8 meter swing above a sea. The sea wasnt really deep enough to hold a fall either ... Things weren't looking good in my eyes but due to it being a seacliff there was only one way and that was up.

I took two friends from my harnass, attached them to my harnass and started to climb through the traverse being clipped in on every moment with at least one piece of gear and shaking like a vibrator on xtc due to being too scared. I hated Gogarth! After the traverse the climbing got worse, placing the friends became impossible due to the rock being crap and continuing up became more and more scarry due to having no belay. When I finally arrived at the top of the pitch Dan was laughing his ass off because he was sitting next to the most bomber belay I had ever seen ... A small lighthouse and him sitting next to it with a grin and a bottle of whisky ...

The whisky was needed! Badly!

Kath

This is also when I met Kath, the girl I still consider one of my best friends after not seeing her for half a year. The first night she challenged me in a drinking contest … One bottle of Ouzo, a bottle of whiskey, some rhum and a bottle of wine later we decided to call it a draw … But then she puked!!! Winning means free booze so pretty important when you try to bum around as long as possible.

After that night I think I spend almost a whole month at her place and in her room (yeah on a seperate matras on the ground while she slept in her bed) because she felt bad for me sleeping in my car and having extra room in her place. This off course meant more drinking but also more climbing … After spending a lot of time my return date to Belgium was getting closer. I still had some projects to finish and I didn't have that much time anymore … 3 months is way way way too short!

The last week

In the last week me and Kath were going to finish of my list of things to do before heading back to Belgium and before she would go back to Sheffield.

The first thing that needed to be done was that bloody Wizz Bang so we headed out back to the Bus Stop Quarry. The first try I fell again on the same crux move but did it in a totally different way than the times I did it before due to more climbing and using a different way of climbing than I did before. A more solid move and a way better move. The second try I just blasted up it. My first 6c was climbed, finally!!

The two other projects were a bit more ambitious for both of us. The first was a list of 13 climbs with a total of 450 meters of climbing in one day spread all over the quarry and the next day we would try to do the 14 peak challenge which links up all the peaks above 3000ft in Wales.

450m of climbing

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